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Wednesday, 14 May 2014

Deadfall: Adventures was released for the PC and Xbox 360 in November
2013, developed by Polish studio The Farm 51 who also brought us the
NecroVisioN PC games, and published by Nordic Games. The game is directly inspired
by H. Rider Haggard (see King Solomon’s Mines) Allen Quatermain series of
books, a lost world and adventure series that has inspired many in its wake,
and as H. Rider Haggards work (including the Allen Quatermain character and
series) has passed into public domain, the series has been greatly explored and
expanded upon by other writers and directors.

In Deadfall: Adventures you play as James Lee Quatermain, a descendent
of Allen Quatermain no less in an action adventure game set in the first person
perspective. The game tells an Atlantean type story that will see the
protagonist continent skipping, from Africa and the Antarctic to South America
in search of powerful Atlantean artefacts. As you would expect from such a game
you will wonder through ancient ruins, fight off Nazis, ancient mummy’s that
come back to life, and of course have to avoid traps and solve puzzles. The
game feels more akin to the type of adventure found in old black and white
movies, with the same humour and some rigid voice acting, but it all gels
together. Deadfall: Adventures is by no means a Tomb Raider or Uncharted, nor
does it try to be either, it’s just a fun adventure game no more, no less.

Monday, 28 April 2014

The PC is still the dominant platform for emulation, it offers far more
in the way of variety and choice, and 99.99% of the time offers a more
competent and a superior experience (depending on who you speak to that is.)
Things have only got better and better as the years have rolled by: emulators
are improving year-on-year, laptops and desktops can now be hooked up to the TV
via HDMI, and the last half a decade or more has seen the Xbox 360 and PS3
controllers become the de facto PC method of controller supported input. More
recently there has even been an influx of USB adaptors that enable you to plug
old console controllers into the PC for use with emulators to create an even
better and closer console experience.

But what if you don’t want to do emulation on the PC? What if you want a
simpler console style experience? What if you want emulation on the move? Well
fear not, as emulation on other systems other than the PC has a long history,
and there is a wealth of choice out there these days. My Amiga 2000 for example
has a Dos 2088 PC emulation expansion board and there is also a version of the
Vice C64 emulator available for the Amiga platform. Old consoles such as Sega’s
Dreamcast now have plenty of emulators created for it that can be burned onto a
CD-R and booted up, so even retro machines are capable of emulating earlier
retro machines especially these days.

In this article I will be focusing on two different systems and one
platform which I am very familiar with and have been experiencing emulation on
for some time now. The two systems are the original Xbox and the Nintendo Wii,
the other is the Android platform as I have been using a tablet which is what most
people will generally use. Why focus on Android instead of other mobile devices
such as the PSP or DS? Well it’s simply because I use my Android tablet for
emulation and have never experienced emulation on the PSP or DS. Also the
Android platform and the tablet market have exploded over the last 4 years,
these days most people have a tablet and if it isn’t an iPad then it’s an
Android tablet. It must be noted however that because of the wide variety in
manufacturers and specs on the platform, not everyone will have the same
cohesive experience of emulation on it, and that experience will come down to
your specific device.

Ease of Setup

Original Xbox –
To run emulation on the original Xbox it will first have to be modded, this
requires it to be either hard modded using a chip or softmodded. The latter
uses exploits in software to replace the old firmware with a new custom built
one and does not require any additional hardware to be installed. While I can’t
speak about how easy or not the hard mod route is, I can however tell you that
the softmod method is pretty strait forward to do and I’d say can be easily
accomplished by anyone, no matter what your skill level in these areas are. You
will have to acquire a few extras off eBay to accomplish the softmod, but it’s
pretty strait forward from there on in.

Two of the most challenging aspects of softmodding the original Xbox
comes later after the new firmware has been installed. The first is using an
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program on your PC to send emulators over to the Xbox;
the other is installing a larger hdd to house all the emulators you might want
to install. The original Xbox comes with an 8gb hdd, once softmodded, 4gb will
be used by the firmware while the other 4gb will be free to use as you see fit,
but you might find that this small amount might fill up rather quickly. The
former is easy enough once you know how to use an FTP program, but the latter
is the most challenging technically and is a pain to be honest. There is a compatibility
list out there for anyone trying to find a compatible IDE drive right off the
bat, these are the best to go for especially if you manage to find a new one
for sale as they are easily installed and have the best chance of working even
if they are not on the compatibility list. The downside to using an IDE hdd is
that they are now really expensive as they are being phased out, now they can
cost double the price of a SATA drive with significantly less memory in
comparison. Don’t worry though as you can use a SATA drive in conjunction with
a SATA to IDE converter, but be warned that there is more of a chance a SATA
drive wont work compared to an IDE drive due to incompatibility issues.

Wii – I didn’t
have to buy anything more than an 8gb SD card to softmod the Wii, but the
initial installation of the custom firmware was more involved and a drawn out
process than it was with the original Xbox. This puts the Wii ahead of the Xbox
because although the initial setup is more complex, once its complete there are
no more additional steps to be taken afterwards. The SD card is essential as
this is where the new firmware and emulators will reside, you will need at
least an 8gb SD Card, but if you find yourself needing a bigger card later on
then everything can be copy and pasted over to the new card. Installing
emulators is made easy by plugging the SD card into a PC and putting them in
the correct folder, this is far easier and less time consuming than the FTP
method employed by the Xbox.

Android – Out
of all three the Android platform is the easiest to get emulators installed on.
It’s as easy as downloading free or paid for emulators off the Google Play
store, install them and away you go. If there are certain emulators you want
but can’t find on the store, but have found elsewhere, then the APK file can be
downloaded or side-loaded onto your Android device, it’s that simple, and for
that reason the Android platform wins in this category hands down.

Plug & Play Experience

Xbox – As the
original Xbox is a console, my hopes always were that in softmodding the system
it would bring a console type experience to emulation that I couldn’t get from
the PC at the time, and sure enough it didn’t disappoint. I have found that
most of the emulators, although made or ported by different developers, seem to
work to the same basic design and principles as one another, and in doing so
have brought some uniformity across the board to the emulation experience on
the machine. All emulators I have used are plug & play: once installed they
require no further setup or configuration, they are ready to go from
installation, they just require you to hit play and this is very much in tune
with a console style experience. You can of course mess with options and
configuration if you wish, but it’s not mandatory or necessary. Controller
integration here is flawless as you would expect it to be, and for anyone wondering,
the d-pad works really well for older 8/16-bit games.

Wii – As with
the Xbox, I was hoping that the Wii would deliver a similar experience with
emulation, and as development on the Xbox was to such a high standard, I was
also expecting the same standards on the Wii. Unfortunately things turned out
to be a mixed bag, which is a shame as well as a missed opportunity. I don’t
know whether this is due to the fact that the Xbox has had a far longer
gestation period in comparison, but the emulation experience is somewhat
lacking on the Wii and often far from the plug and play experience that should
be on offer. The most common 8/16-bit emulators (Nes, SNES, SMS, Mega Drive)
are fine and do offer a good plug and play experience with the added advantage
of plenty of different control options via Wii Remote, Classic Controller (Pro)
and the Game Cube pad. But I have found that for everything else there always
seems to be something getting in the way, be it screen adjustment, setting
configurations before play or an emulator just being plain fussy about where
stuff is placed or what it can and can’t play. Stick to the most common core of
8/16-bit consoles and you will be fine and have a pleasant enough console type
experience, but stray any further and emulation on the Wii will leave you
considering better alternatives.

Android – Hot
on the heals of the original Xbox is the Android platform, and you would think
that this platform would be the furthest away from a plug and play experience,
but from my hands-on it does a far more competent job as a whole than anything
offered on the Wii. Just like the Xbox it’s as simple as loading up an emulator
and hitting play, with touchscreen controls already mapped out onto the screen.
I have yet to come across any emulator that didn’t offer a ready to go plug and
play experience, even all the emulators mimicking old computers are ready to
go.

There are a few hoops you will have to jump through to get a more
console type experience, such as connecting a controller (Moga, PS3, 360) and
connecting to a TV via a HDMI cable, but these will only seek to make a ready
and accessible experience more complete. Syncing a controller up to a tablet
will mean you will have to first dive into an emulators options to set it up
and map the button layout before diving into a game, but once done you
shouldn’t have to do it again when booting up the same emulator.

Emulator Settings & Options

Xbox – In this
area the original Xbox once again rules supreme over the competition as the
sheer wealth of settings and options that are on offer that can be tweaked in
each emulator is mind bending. You can tweak and change just about anything,
not that you will necessarily want to, but there are plenty of easy pickings
worth having a mess about with such as graphical and texture filters, audio
filters, frame rate etc. Its to the credit of all involved with bringing the
emulators to the Xbox that you can dive straight into playing games with no
need to go anywhere near the settings whatsoever, but if you did wish to change
or tweak options even further for whatever reason, then the user is certainly
well catered for.

Wii – For most
of the emulators bar a few the choice and scope of settings on the Wii’s range
is positively anaemic compared to those on the Xbox with less than a tenth of the
choice on offer to the user in comparison. Once again the main 8/16-bit console
emulators are reasonably catered for with some good and worth while settings on
offer to users, but its still a lot less than what you will find on the Xbox.
While it can be said that choice is not everything, it can also be argued that
the more options and settings available to the user to tweak, the more they can
adjust and cater to their particular experience, taste and variables in HDTVs.
When it comes to settings in emulators I am an advocate that more is better as
it allows for more freedom and flexibility and in the end will only add to the
gaming experience overall. Sadly though this is an area that is underdeveloped
in many emulators on the Wii so don’t expect the earth to breath fire here.

Android – Emulators
on the Android platform are slightly ahead of the Wii in the amount of settings
and options open to users, but only by a small margin. In some emulators
choosing certain graphical options or plugins will either open or restrict the
amount of settings available in relevant fields. There are also a wide range of
input settings on emulators on this platform as there are quite a lot of
Android Bluetooth gaming pads to choose from these days, and that’s on top of
the options given for tweaking touchscreen controls. You will also find that
most emulators will give you options as to how they handle the frame rate and GPU;
this comes in quite handy with the wide ranging hardware that has adopted the
Android platform.

The biggest difference and advantage emulators have in this category
over the Wii is that development is very much on-going as opposed to the Wii
where development seems all but dead. Emulation on Android is moving forward
and fast catching up to Xbox levels of quality, and six months from now there will
undoubtedly be newer versions of emulators available with a wider range of
settings on offer that will be implemented to a greater degree.

Overall Quality and Experience

Xbox – From my
experience the original Xbox has given the best overall experience, and is outstanding
in the quality of emulation on offer. While it lacks the option of a physical
keyboard and mouse for the old micro computer emulators, developers have still
managed to find the best logical workarounds and produce or port emulators that
outperform what’s on offer on other platforms. What you can find on the Xbox is
a wealth of choice where the quality of emulation on offer can only truly be rivalled
by what is on the PC, no surprise there then as the Xbox is basically a
consolized PC. The Xbox has always been synonymous with modding, emulation and
homebrew which began no sooner had the console been launched, a factor that
also contributed to its success no less. This inevitably gives the original
Xbox a leg-up when compared with any other platform as development is so far
ahead: at present I feel there is a generational gap between what is on Xbox
and what’s offered on the Wii, and perhaps three years gap capered to Android.
The Android platform will soon catch up, but I feel the Wii will always lag far
behind.

I cant say that I have encountered any problems with emulators, the
usual suspects are still fussy about certain games as is the case on the PC,
and on the whole I can say I have had a flawless and enjoyable experience
overall. Another great part of emulation on the system is that as far as
emulating old consoles go, the Xbox gives as close to a console style
experience as you can get, even beating the PC with its USB controller adaptors.

There is a barrier to all this however as the extra steps you’ll have to
take in the modding and setup process to get the best possible experience will
be a problematic and sticky experience for some, a complete barrier to others.
Having to FTP everything you want over to the system is a pain in the backside
as it’s a cumbersome process by todays standards and a time consuming one at
that, but these headaches are well worth suffering as the results speak for
themselves.

Wii – I find
that I can’t really recommend the Wii for emulation, not when there are better
options available. But having said that if you don’t have any other options
open to you, and you just want the basics, then the Wii route is one worth
taking. It does a competent job with the main 8/16-bit consoles as these
emulators are great: frame rate is smooth with accurate and reliable emulation,
there are a reasonable amount of basic options and the controls are flawless,
although I do find the picture rather hemmed in when compared with other
systems. But venture outside of these core emulators and towards anything more
exotic or computer based then problems and reliability issues will abound, not
to mention emulator specific quirks.

I can’t help but be very disappointed with the state of emulation on the
Wii; it should be a lot closer to where the original Xbox is even with a
generational gap between development. It has advantages in its varied
controller options, and that a mouse and keyboard can be hooked up via the USB
ports for computer based emulators, but sadly only to then be let down by poor
emulation and GUI implementation.

What’s worse is that the Wii seems to be all but abandoned, or at least
things have stalled and there has been little movement or development. After a
year or more I would expect to see some updates and progression, with newer
versions of emulators on offer, but that’s sadly not the case as nothing seems
to have moved forward. Its seems as if the Wii cant shake off the dust that
always seems to want to cover it and keep it tied down.

Android – From my experience I have
found emulation on Android to be fantastic, especially for such a small
portable device I can take with me on my travels. Its not the complete
experience on its own because lets face it, touchscreen controls are quite
honestly shit, shit is what they are and will always be as they will never be
good enough to replace real buttons, d-pads and analog sticks. So investing in
a wireless Bluetooth controller, whether it is Moga, Xbox 360, PS3 or one of
the many others on the market at the moment is simply a must to complete and
round off the emulation experience.

Emulation is of a high standard, it’s easy to obtain, install and there
are plenty to choose from as well as numerous different ones available for any
given system. But while most of the emulators are of a high standard, just how
well they run will more than likely depend on your specific tablet. More Ram,
GPU and graphical grunt the better, but that does not necessarily mean a specific
emulator will always run smoothly, it also depends on how much other stuff is
running in the background. I have found I got better frame rates and next to no
lockups when shutting everything down that I could before running an emulator.
You might also find on rooted tablets that squeezing them for more ram and GPU
power might help a lot with this, so this is something to bear in mind.

The portable market is a very fast moving one, and with so many
different devices on the market it’s always best to search the web and do your
research to make sure you pick the right device for you to save yourself from
disappointment. With the Android sphere being so fragmented with different tech
specs there will always be problems, but emulation development seems to be
keeping up pace and improving all the time, and as a result it looks set to
overtake the original Xbox sometime in the very near future.

Saturday, 4 January 2014

You would have thought that one of the best games ever made, certainly
the best (depending on who you speak to) GTA game ever made to make an
appearance on Android over the Christmas period would have sparked far more fanfare
and media coverage? But sadly it seems to have slipped past many unnoticed for
one reason or another, yet it really shouldn’t have if you’re a fan of this
game as this port is by no means a half-arsed half-baked slapped together cash-in
for the portable market. It’s actually a well nurtured highly polished Android
port that makes good over its console versions in some surprising areas.

First and foremost then, just how does the Android version stack up
against the console versions in the graphics departments? Well, when I first played
the Android version the first thing I noticed was how crisp and sharp the
graphics looked, and how there was a distinct lack of jaggies present in this
version, everything the eye can see is smooth and defined. This was in stark
contrast to the Xbox version I was comparing it to where jaggies or blurriness
seemed to be ever present. In the Xbox version I had the choice between less
jaggies and more blurriness in composite 50 Hz, or a sharper picture and more
jaggies through a component lead at 480p. Here is where the Android version
comes out shining, as you get a super sharp picture (more so than on the Xbox
at 480p) but without any horrible noticeable jaggies present. As far as
graphical detail goes, I first thought that the Android version of San Andreas
would surly be closer to the PS2 original, but upon closer comparison I have
found that its actually on a par with the Xbox version which was slightly more
detailed over the PS2 original. In The Android version you can adjust the level
of graphical detail in the game to help it run smoother on less powerful
tablets, you can adjust the visual effects detail, resolution, draw distance,
shadows and car reflections. But with all these set to max, the Android version
without a doubt matches the Xbox version in the detail department. However one
effect it lacks over the console versions is the heat wobble in the daytime
sun, and I’m guessing this was taken out to give the game a cleaner sharper
look. Overall then the graphics in the Xbox version of the game has more
character and atmosphere about it, but at the cost of either jaggies,
blurriness or both while the Android version is the opposite having less
character and atmosphere yet is pin sharp with no jaggies or blurriness to
speak of.

Next up you’ll want to know just how well this massive game runs on a
capable tablet with the graphics settings maxed out. Well from my experience
there does seem to be slightly less NPCs and vehicles roaming about San
Andreas, but only slightly which would make the game run smother, but even on a
really capable device there can be some noticeable slowdown when there is a lot
of action onscreen. But fear not, follow these few simple steps and you should
see an increase in performance. Firstly you will want to turn off Bluetooth and
wireless on your tablet before playing the game, why? Well its simple, various
elements of your tablets OS will want to connect to the internet in the
background not to mention any other apps you have downloaded and this will eat
up valuable ram and processor resources. Secondly it’s best to reboot your
tablet and launch the game soon after it’s booted, this is the best way to
clear out and stop any apps and elements of the OS hogging ram and processor
space, don’t even bother using any cleaning apps to do this as they have
nothing on a clean reboot. These two simple steps will go along way to
improving overall performance and loading times even on the most powerful of
tablets.

Last but not least controls, just how well do touchscreen controls really
work in this game? Well the controls work extremely well and are very
responsive, moreover the way in which they have been implemented has had some
real thought put into them and I can’t see them ever been implemented better
than this on a touchscreen device. Having said that they do take some getting
used to, and even then they will always be rather maddening and at times frustrating
to use over using a normal controller as an input method. But fear not as you
can use a proper controller with this game as it’s supported by the Android
Moga controller, or you have the option of using a wired PS3 controller, either
way both options are a welcomed relief.

The Android version of San Andreas could have turned out to be a piss
poor cut-down port of the game, but instead Rockstar have bought the game over
to tablets whole and seemingly complete and have worked towards making many improvements
to the game in the process. But while there is a lot to love about the Android
version of the game, it lacks one crucial and very important element, without
which makes it less the sum of its parts, and that ladies and gentleman is
cheats. Yes that’s right, this version lacks the one thing most if not all
gamers will want to implement within the first half hour of gameplay; it’s the
first thing many gamers will think about upon booting the game. But anyone
trying to implement cheats through touchscreen, controller or keyboard inputs will
be very disappointed as none of the above mentioned will work. I’m not sure
just yet whether it’s a case that Rockstar has left the cheats out all
together, or they have not put a way to implement them into the game. Either
way it has been left up to the modding community to create apps and hacks to
get cheats to work, which in a game so synonymous with in-game cheats is quite
frankly a stupid situation for this game to be released in and a baffling
decision by Rockstar. Without wanting to download some dodgy APK from some website I have
never heard of I am sadly left with a brilliant version of San Andreas I can’t
use in-game cheats in, a game made for cheats that is. Which as good as this
game is and as much as I want to continue playing it, I honestly cant see
myself ever putting any more hours into this version over its console
counterparts until this issue with the cheats is resolved, so don’t go giving
up on that Xbox version just yet.